Enhanced sensitive phase alpha plane scheme against high resistance ground faults

Abstract

Phase-based Alpha (α) Plane Relaying (APR) scheme has numerous advantages over the Current Differential Relay (CDR) for transmission line protection. Since the large Restraining Region (RR) in the APR makes high security against CT saturation, channel delay, line charging current and synchronization error. However, the APR loses its sensitivity for high resistance ground faults, especially single line to ground faults under outfeed conditions. Also, losing its dependability under close-in low resistance three-phase faults. Thereby, the sequence-based APR provides enhanced sensitivity with the cost of computational burden and complexity. Hence, in this paper, the concept of the average value (I Avg) of both end instantaneous currents is used as an auxiliary logic. In which, the polarity of I Avg is incorporated as an add-on logic to the conventional APR to confirm high resistance internal faults. Thereby, the requirement of sequence components can be avoided (negative and zero). To validate the proposed auxiliary logic, it is tested for the WSCC (Western System Coordinating Council) 9-bus, 110 kV, 50 Hz. System. The simulated results under various fault cases found authenticated results. In addition, the comparative assessment and validation with real-world data reveal the enhanced sensitivity of the proposed logic under high-resistance ground faults.